Uphill and Against the Wind
by formaldehyde.corruption
Summary: A series of encounters over the years leave Percy Jackson desperately in love with Apollo, the Sun God, but when Hera switches her with Jason Grace, Percy is left in New Rome with only the vague memory of a boy that almost seems to glow gold. Fem!Percy
1. Lots for Them to Talk About

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Heroes of Olympus. There is some dialogue in this chapter taken from 'The Lightning Thief', but this text has been _italicized_, and I do not claim to own any of this text. It all belongs to the beautiful mind of Rick Riordan. Additionally, I don't own the song that inspired both the story title and the chapter title, 'Kidz', by Take That.

**Story Title:** Uphill and Against the Wind

**Summary: **A series of encounters over the years leave Percy Jackson desperately in love with Apollo, the Sun God, but when Hera switches her with Jason Grace, Percy is left in New Rome with only the vague memory of a boy that almost seems to glow gold. Fem!Percy

**Rated: M**, for language, and later in the story, lemons

**AN:** Apollo's love life is so depressingly tragic, and I really wanted to try my hand at an angst-ridden love story. Hopefully, this will provide Apollo with a happy ending! Plus, I've always had a preoccupation with the idea of Fem!Percy. Don't get me wrong, Percy as he is, is pretty bad-ass, and I ship Percabeth so hard that it actually _hurts_, but I've always wondered, _what if_? So here's my version of how Percy's story could have turned out, had he been Persephone instead of Perseus. Seeing as Apollo is also the God of Music, I thought it would be fitting to have song lyrics at the start of every chapter.

**Please review, and let me know what you think!**

.:~{+}~:.

**I: Lots for Them to Talk About**

.:~{+}~:.

_They say nothing,_

_Deny everything,_

_And make counter accusations,_

_My friends, my dear, my love, my God,_

_There'll be trouble when the kidz come out (come out)_

_There will be lots for them to talk about (about)_

-Kidz, by Take That

.:~{+}~:.

Another council meeting.

Apollo didn't quite see why they had to have such frequent council meetings. As a God, you'd think his life would be more exciting, but really, his existence seemed to be a long stretch of eternal duties and never-ending family arguments, occasionally broken up by the antics of a particularly interesting hero. When you are immortal, you quickly find that very little actually changes, and when change does occur, it is in quick, exciting bursts of activity that, when they fade, leave you even more bored than you were before.

Perhaps if they weren't spending so much time in council meetings, Apollo thought bitterly, they could actually manage to spend time with their children. He hears their prayers, every single one of them. It kills him when they ask for help, or advice, and he can't do anything about it. Their mothers may have been the Godly equivalents of one-night stands, but Gods be damned if Apollo didn't love his children. That was another reason that he hated Hera. Zeus never would have passed that law if Hera had not been pressuring him. After all, Zeus himself had sired many a demigod child.

"We are here today," Zeus began, a dangerous sort of electricity seeming to crackle through his tone, "to discuss the severe misstep of Poseidon."

Apollo perked up at that. Zeus and Poseidon's quarrels were infamous, though rarely could the King of the Gods truly find anything to punish the Sea God with. This 'misstep' could be interesting. A break in the often boring business of immortality. One of those quick, exciting bursts of activity.

Ares, the bloodhound for trouble that he was, seemed to also sense this potential shift from the norm. "Misstep?" he asked.

Poseidon glowered at the God of War from his fishnet throne. "I refuse to refer to her as a 'misstep'."

Aphrodite looked up from her manicure. "Her?" she asked, excitement barely concealed.

Zeus rolled his eyes. "Calm yourself Aphrodite, you're about twelve years too late for the romance. The 'her' that my brother refuses to acknowledge as a misstep is his demigod child, Persephone Jackson."

As the other Gods gasped at the revelation of one of the Big Three siring an illegal child, Apollo straightened in his chair, interest radiating from eyes the color of purest sky blue. Quick, exciting burst of activity indeed.

Poseidon gripped the arms of his throne until his knuckles turned white. "I refuse to acknowledge Percy as a misstep because she was not a misstep!"

Thunder rumbled ominously. "Then you mean to tell me," Zeus began, "that her birth was intended? That you intentionally broke the oath?"

"Of course not!" Poseidon burst out, seeming angry, impatient. Poseidon was a favorite of Apollo's. He was just as unpredictable as the seas he ruled. He made this endless life that much more interesting. "She was not meant to be born, but neither do I regret her birth!"

Zeus opened his mouth to say something in response to that, but then Poseidon's face was clouded by a sly, calculating look, a rebellious something flashing in his sea green eyes, and a smirk curled at his lips.

"Unless," he began over whatever Zeus was about to say, "you mean to tell me that dear Thalia was a misstep as well?"

The effect was immediate, as though someone had sucked all of the oxygen from the room. Thalia Grace was never mentioned in the presence of Zeus. Partially out of respect for his grief, and partially out of fear of the rampages that often occurred afterwards.

Zeus looked as though he'd just been stabbed, the pain on his face was so evident. After several moments of shocked, tense silence, Zeus stormed from the room. The effects for Earth were devastating that night. Tornadoes raged and carelessly placed lightning strikes inspired wildfires.

Apollo sighed. He hated it when pretty girls got turned into trees.

.:~{+}~:.

Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson stared apprehensively at the mummy sitting on the stool by the window. She'd never seen a corpse before, and she found herself wishing she wasn't looking at one now. The Oracle was the shriveled remains of what was once a woman, in a tie-dyed sundress with sickening leathery skin stretched over her skull and glassy eyes that seemed to stare straight back at Percy.

She felt like ice was melting on the back of her neck, the cold water dripping down her spine, taking the time to icily caress each and every vertebrae.

And then that green mist came from the mummy and Percy scrambled to get away, only for the door to slam shut and she thought that she might just be sick. A voice echoed through her head, and she didn't like it, not at all, it was invasive, she didn't want it there-

"_I am the spirit of Delphi, speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python. Approach, seeker, and ask_."

Percy thought she would've done anything to get away. Wildly, she thought of saying, _no thanks, wrong door, just looking for the bathroom_. But her mom…

Not really sure what she was supposed to say, she kind of muttered out, "_What is my destiny_?"

She'd expected to get an answer about the quest. A prophecy. Wasn't that what Annabeth had said? That she'd get a prophecy from the Oracle? But her question had been too vague, and what she got instead was much different.

"Your destiny, child, lies in the morning in the East, and in the evening, in the West. Though I suppose you meant your quest?"

What? Her destiny was in the East in the mornings and in the West in the evening? What did that even mean? That made no sense!

The mist swirled thickly, and Percy watched as four men around a table appeared in it. She felt hatred and resentment course through her as she recognized Smelly Gabe.

The illusion of her step-father turned to her. _You shall go West, and face the God who has turned._

The one on the right turned to her. _You shall find what was stolen, and see it safely returned._

Then the one on the left. _You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend._

Finally her building superior, Eddie, turned to face her. _And you shall fail to save what matters most, in the end._

And that was apparently, as much as the Oracle was willing to say, despite Percy's cries of "_Wait! What do you mean? What friend? What will I fail to save?_"

Later, Percy would wonder why people even bothered going to the stupid Oracle in the first place. It was more confusing, than helpful, in Percy's opinion. She'd basically been told she was going to fail her quest. Whatever happened to positive outlook, huh?

And what she'd learned about her destiny… East in the morning, West in the evening, East in the morning, West in the evening… what-

The sun.

It hit Percy suddenly, fast and hard. The sun. The Oracle was talking about the sun. The sun rises in the East, and sets in the West. Her destiny was the sun.

She furrowed her brow. How could her destiny possibly be the sun?

It made no sense.

.:~{+}~:.

Thunder shook the whole of Mt. Olympus in a 'CRACK' that seemed to make Apollo's skull rattle with its volume. Immediately, he wondered who was about to die. Zeus had not been this angry in a very long time.

He exchanged a glance with his twin, Artemis. Though they had been previously engaging in a thousands-year-old argument over whether her Hunters or his children were the better archers, they were both now completely serious.

"POSEIDON!" Lightning flickered, reflecting in Artemis' moon-silver eyes.

As they exited Apollo's temple, Artemis raised an eyebrow at him. "I wonder what Uncle could have possibly done now? I fail to see how things could possibly get worse than siring a demigod in spite of the oath."

Apollo shrugged, driven towards Poseidon's temple where the most storm activity appeared to be, driven by curiosity and the desire for something different, something new. A quick, exciting burst of activity.

As the twin archers reached the bottom of the temple steps, they could see and hear their father and uncle.

"-display of absolute IMPERTINENCE!" Zeus was raging, but Poseidon looked darkly amused.

"You need to keep a tighter reign on that Gods damned child of yours-"

Poseidon's face became eerily calm. It unsettled Apollo deeply when his uncle did that. It was far too similar to that smooth-as-glass appearance that the sea took on just before the hit of a devastating storm.

"Perhaps, Brother," Poseidon began dangerously, "I would be able to, as you say, 'keep a tighter reign on that Gods damned child', if you had not passed an ancient law dictating that I am not allowed contact with said child!"

Zeus tensed, and Apollo and Artemis shot each other alarmed glances.

"Well perhaps," Zeus shot back, his tone just as dangerous, "we would not be having this problem in the first place if you had stuck to the oath-"

"Well perhaps if you yourself had not broken the oath first-"

Artemis stepped in, afraid of further escalation.

"Father," she said, bounding lithely up the steps, Apollo hot on her heels. "What is this 'problem' that you speak of?"

Zeus scowled at the Sea God. "Percy Jackson."

Poseidon surged towards his brother angrily. "My daughter is not the problem here-"

"Father!" Artemis interrupted. "Please explain."

And that was when Zeus reached to the table behind him, holding up a horribly ugly decapitated head dripping green blood by the hair- no, those were snakes, but who-

Ah. Medusa.

"It seems that Poseidon's precious daughter decided to send us a little gift last night," Zeus said acidly.

Apollo couldn't help it. He burst out laughing. He doubled over, clutching his sides and laughed until his cheeks hurt and his ribs ached. It had been such a long time since something had made him laugh so hard, but Gods, this girl was a spitfire!

And his laughter only increased when he saw the note:

_With best wishes,_

_PERCY JACKSON_

Quick, exciting burst of activity, indeed.

.:~{+}~:.

The diner went eerily silent. The biggest motorcycle that Percy had ever seen had just pulled up outside. It looked violent, if that were possible. The gas tank was painted in flames, the headlight was a glaring red that instantly reminded Percy of the Ares cabin back at Camp Half-Blood, not to mention it was equipped with shotguns. Most disturbing of all, in Percy's opinion, was the leather seat that looked like it was made from human skin.

But the bike wasn't half as intimidating as its owner. A handsome, but horribly cruel-looking man with an oily black crew cut, red wraparound shades and cheeks that were scarred from innumerable fights.

When he came into the diner, all the customers rose, looks of reverence on their faces, but with an impatient snap of his fingers, they all sat again. Everyone went back to their conversations, and suddenly everything was normal again.

"_You kids have money to pay for it_?" the waitress asked.

Annabeth was smushed up against the glass of the window as the biker slid into their booth. "_It's on me_," he said.

After the waitress left, the biker stared at Percy from across the table, and seemingly from nowhere, anger, bitterness and resentment began to roil in the pit of her stomach. Suddenly, she wanted desperately to provoke this guy.

He just sent an absolutely wicked grin her way. "_So you're old Seaweed's kid, huh_?"

"_What's it to you_?"

Annabeth looked at Percy, a warning flashing in her gray eyes. "_Percy, this is_-"

The biker interrupted her. "_S'okay, I don't mind a little attitude. Long as you remember who's the boss. You know who I am, little cousin_?"

She suddenly realized who he reminded her of: Clarisse.

Ares smiled like the devil, and when the shades came off, empty sockets glowed only with fire. She should've been scared, but she wasn't. This guy did something to her, made her inexplicably angry, almost uncontrollably so.

She became even angrier watching him threaten their waitress with a knife when she protested about being paid in golden drachmas. After which he had the nerve to turn to her and say "_I need you to do me a favor_."

"_What favor could I do for a God_?"

He explained that he and his girlfriend had been interrupted at the water park and he'd left his shield behind. Personally, Percy thought you'd have to be pretty stupid to forget something as important as your shield, but she kept that to herself.

"_We're not interested_, _we've already got a quest_."

Disturbing images appeared in the unsettling sockets of Ares' eyes. Death and blood-shed, and Percy understood that unlike Annabeth's mom, Athena, who stood for strategy in battle, Ares was the chaos, the horror of war.

"_I know all about your quest, punk. When that item was first stolen, Zeus sent out his best looking for it: Apollo, Athena, Artemis, and me, naturally. If I couldn't sniff out a weapon that powerful…_" An unsettling hunger set in on the God's features. Percy realized that he was hungry for the power of Zeus' master bolt. "_Well… if I couldn't find it, you got no hope._"

"Thanks," Percy snorted sarcastically. Despite his Godhood, she very much doubted he had anything up his sleeve that could make her want to help him. But then he said the magic words.

"_Help me out, and maybe I'll tell you something you need to know. Something about your mom_."

And that was how Percy, Grover and Annabeth found themselves at the water park, looking for the Tunnel of Love ride.

.:~{+}~:.

The Gods were startled when Hephaestus TV was very suddenly activated without warning. A loud 'SPLASH' overtook Mt. Olympus as their attention was drawn to the image of two demigods on a little boat with water rushing all around them.

Apollo observed, eyebrows raised. In the boat were two girls, about twelve years old, if he were to take a guess. One of them was quite obviously Athena's, with those delicate blonde curls, sharp gray eyes and California girl tan.

The other one took him a moment to figure out, but he quickly decided that due to the long black hair, deep tan and striking resemblance, this could only be Poseidon's firecracker of a 'misstep', Percy Jackson.

Percy was pulling the screaming blonde into the seat next to her, and for some reason she had to buckle the Athena kid's seatbelt- oh, no, wait, he could see the little mechanical spiders now. Yeesh, no wonder the kid was so flipped out. In the next moment though, a huge wave of water crashed into the boat and toppled all the spiders overboard.

Apollo guessed Poseidon's girl must be using her powers, because despite the large waves, the little boat did not capsize, and even seemed to be being steered, because not once had it hit the wall. The daughters of Poseidon and Athena clung to each other tightly, screaming the whole way through the wild ride, and Apollo actually found himself suppressing a smile of amusement.

It disappeared completely when they exited the tunnel and he saw they were in danger of crashing violently into the gates. Sure, they weren't his demigods, but he found death in general to be saddening. He sometimes wondered if it was because he was the God of Healing, and death was so opposite to his domain.

"_Unfasten your seatbelt_!" Percy called to the daughter of Athena. The other girl looked at her like she was crazy.

"_We're going to have to jump for it_," he heard Percy say.

Athena's girl seemed to have decided to stop asking questions, because she gripped Percy's hand tightly.

"_On my mark_," said the daughter of Poseidon.

"_No, on my mark! Simple physics! Force times the trajectory angle_-"

"_Fine_!" Percy interrupted, looking almost desperate to escape any talk of physics whatsoever, and Apollo found himself laughing again. "_On your mark_!"

When the daughter of Athena yelled 'now!', the two girls jumped just as their little boat crashed violently into the gateway. On their way down, a satyr, the one that Zeus hated for getting his daughter turned into a tree, caught them using what looked a whole lot like a pair of Hermes' flying shoes. The momentum was too much though, and all three kids came crashing down onto the asphalt.

When Percy untangled herself from the other two and stood, she looked directly at the camera, almost as though she were looking into Apollo's eyes. He blinked, surprised. They were Poseidon's eyes, but somehow the green looked more vivid on her. He wondered if it was because her eyes were wider. They were certainly intriguing. Despite their doe-like wideness, which would usually suggest innocence, Apollo could quite clearly see the spark of defiance, the flicker of rebellion in them. If he hadn't already known from the gall she had in sending the Gods the head of Medusa, then he'd of known right here, right now, in this very moment:

Percy Jackson had trouble written all over her.

She was one of those demigods. The kind that had legends and myths written about them. The kind that lingered in the memory of the Gods, long after their deaths. The kind that gave them something to talk about.

The kind that inspired those quick, exciting bursts of activity.

"_Show's over_!" she yelled at the camera, making Apollo laugh again. "_Thank you! Good night_!"

Long after the cameras had shut off and he could no longer see her face, Apollo stayed rooted in his spot, smiling vaguely at the blank screen.

It had been years since they'd had such an unpredictable demigod, and Apollo had the feeling that he wouldn't be bored again for quite awhile.


	2. What I Had Not Felt Before

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Heroes of Olympus. There is some dialogue in this chapter taken from 'The Titan's Curse', but this text has been _italicized_, and I do not claim to own any of this text. It all belongs to the beautiful mind of Rick Riordan. Additionally, I don't own the song that inspired the story title, 'Kidz', by Take That, or the song that inspired the chapter title, 'Ordinary Day' by Vanessa Carlton. Yes, my taste in music is in fact quite eclectic.

**Story Title:** Uphill and Against the Wind

**Summary: **A series of encounters over the years leave Percy Jackson desperately in love with Apollo, the Sun God, but when Hera switches her with Jason Grace, Percy is left in New Rome with only the vague memory of a boy that almost seems to glow gold. Fem!Percy

**Rated: M**, for language, and later in the story, lemons

**AN: **I would like to use this space to answer the questions of two of my guest reviewers: **favfan** and **sleepymermaid. **Apollo and Percy do not meet until 'The Titan's Curse', as I'm basing this off of the books. This chapter actually focuses on the events of 'The Titan's Curse', because I'm kind of skimming over the events of the first five books to establish contact and feelings between the pair, and then I'll go over the events of Percy's 'perfect summer' in a much slower, more developmental way to better show their relationship, which is necessary as that is when they start 'going out' (though it feels weird to use that term when there's an Olympian God in the equation…) And then 'Son of Neptune' and 'Mark of Athena' will be a little more like re-writes… so basically it looks like this story is going to be a _little_ long…

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed, followed and favorited chapter 1, I was seriously blown away by the response! I wasn't even sure people would be interested in reading it in the first place!**

.:~{+}~:.

**II: What I Had Not Felt Before**

.:~{+}~:.

_And as he spoke,_

_He spoke ordinary words,_

_Though they did not feel, no,_

_For I felt what I had not felt before,_

_And you'd swear those words could heal_

-Ordinary Day, by Vanessa Carlton

.:~{+}~:.

Apollo was right. The appearance of Persephone Jackson was a vivid one. She was like a meteorite in a starless sky, her trail across Apollo's consciousness swift, but lasting, with sparkles of intense color otherwise known as interest left in her wake. He was very rarely bored when Percy Jackson was in action.

The only problem was, as a summer camper, in the grand spectrum of things, she was rarely in action.

The next time that Poseidon's fourteen-year-old daughter caught the Sun God's attention was the following summer, when she managed to complete a near impossible feat and bring the Golden Fleece to Camp Half-Blood, which then had the knock-on effect of reviving Zeus' beloved daughter, Thalia Grace. And that was the day that she earned the respect of Zeus, though the King of the Gods would never admit feelings of such reverence towards a demigod if his life depended on it, much less Poseidon's demigod.

The six months afterward were a repetitive haze of boredom, a cloud through which Apollo stumbled mechanically, because the golden glitter of excitement that Percy left behind seemed to make the rest of the world unbearably dim.

But then she shot across the sky of the Gods for a third time in the winter of 2007, and this time, she not only caught Apollo's attention, but she held it.

.:~{+}~:.

The girl standing before Percy looked about her age, maybe twelve or thirteen, with dark red hair that reminded her of royalty, a deep, beautiful auburn. Despite her slight frame, something in Percy warned that this girl could potentially be very dangerous, though she did not feel threatened at the moment. It was her eyes that really caught Percy's attention though, a frigid silver, sharp as the wolves that seemed to follow her lead, yet tranquil, like staring into a sea of liquid moonlight.

Yet for all of her startling, unearthly beauty, cold and ethereal as it was, Percy could not see her as anything but an obstruction.

As Percy struggled, the girl spoke, her voice as quiet and mysterious as the dark side of the moon. "_You are in no condition to be hurling yourself off of cliffs._"

But that only made Percy struggle harder. Didn't she understand? Percy had to save Annabeth! Her best friend had just fallen off a freaking cliff!

"_Let me go! Who do you think you are_?"

The other girl, the one who was equally beautiful, yet much, much darker, stepped forward as though to slap Percy, but she was stopped by the girl with moonlit eyes.

"No, Zoë, she means no disrespect. She simply does not understand."

Those sharp eyes cut over to Percy.

"_I am Artemis. Goddess of the Hunt_."

Well that was unexpected. Like, seriously? She was a tiny little waif of a Goddess. And yet… well, okay, so now that Percy thought about it, she was literally too beautiful to be human, and, okay, that sense of danger? Yeah, that was her instincts telling her she could potentially be vaporized, and yeah, now that she was more focused, every single one of her instincts were telling her to bow.

"Oh… okay," she said, as realization washed over her and she wallowed in a mild sense of embarrassment.

Grover got on his knees and pretty much started worshipping Artemis right then and there, while Bianca di Angelo really started to flip out when Zoë Nightshade, the darker girl, told her that one of her and Nico's parents was an Olympian God.

Nico started hopping around like he'd had ten cups of coffee and Bianca insisted the Gods weren't real, and as much as Percy wanted to go after her best friend, she felt a moment of pity for the di Angelos. Finding out you're a demigod is hard, and actually being one is even harder.

"_Bianca_," Thalia started in the gentlest voice Percy had ever heard the other girl use, "_I know it's hard to believe. But the Gods are still around. Trust me. They're immortal. And whenever they have kids with regular humans, kids like us, well… Our lives are dangerous_."

And wasn't that just the understatement of the century, Percy thought, staring mournfully over at the cliff edge where Annabeth had fallen in a tumble of orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt, and pretty blonde ringlets.

Bianca was apparently thinking along the same lines. "_Dangerous_," she said, "_Like the girl who fell_."

Percy flinched at that. She could help dark 'what if' thoughts crossing her mind as Artemis explained that by some strange magic, Annabeth was gone, and could not, at that point, be followed. But what if the fall had been too much? What if Dr. Thorn had gotten to her? What if Annabeth was dead? What if Percy never saw her best friend again?

"_Bianca_," Percy said, "_we came here to help you. You and Nico need training to survive. Dr. Thorn won't be the last monster you meet. You need to come to camp_."

"_Camp_?"

"_Camp Half-Blood. It's where half-bloods learn to survive and stuff. You can join us, stay there year-round if you like_."

"_There is another option_," Zoë spoke suddenly, surprising Percy. Another option? What other option?

"_No_," Thalia growled menacingly, only fueling Percy's curiosity, "_there isn't_."

Percy could immediately tell there was a bad history between Thalia and Zoë, if the way they were staring each other down was any indication.

"I believe we've burdened these children enough," Artemis interjected. "Raise the tents, Zoë, and Bianca, I would like to speak with you."

"Can I come?" Nico asked excitedly, but there was something off in the way Artemis eyed him. Not hostile, or cruel exactly, but rather more cold and unfriendly than was warranted.

"_Perhaps you can show Grover how to play that card game you enjoy. I'm sure Grover would be happy to entertain you for awhile… as a favor to me_?"

Grover seemed to regard Artemis with a strange sort of awe that he did not bestow upon even Mr. D, so his '_you bet_' was just a little too enthusiastic.

Bianca and Artemis started to turn away, but then the Goddess paused, and turned back to give Percy a contemplative look.

"You, maiden," she began, startling Percy who never in a million years guessed she'd be referred to as such, "You should know that you too have options. Come, Percy, walk with Bianca and I."

She stared in surprise at them for a moment, before hurriedly jogging after them to catch up. Artemis walked with them along the cliff's edge, and Percy couldn't help continuously looking down at the bottom, compulsively checking that Annabeth's body hadn't been smashed against the sea rocks down below, though something told her that as the daughter of the Sea God, if that were the case, then she'd know.

"_Are you surprised by my age_?" Artemis asked the two of them. Percy and Bianca exchanged nervous glances, not entirely sure what they should say, but then Percy just came right out with it.

"_Uh… a little_," to which Bianca nodded vigorously in agreement, her dark, sleek hair bouncing around her olive-toned face and gleaming in the dim light of the moon.

"_I could appear as a grown woman, or a blazing fire, or anything else I want, but this is what I prefer. This is the average age of my Hunters, and all young maidens for whom I am patron, before they go astray_."

Another uncertain, curious glance was exchanged between Percy and Bianca.

"_Go astray_?" Percy asked.

"_Grow up. Become smitten with boys. Become silly, preoccupied, insecure. Forget themselves_."

"_Oh_," Percy said as they entered one of the newly constructed tents, wondering how all of that counted as 'going astray'. Her mother had told her that falling in love was one of the best feelings in the world. It seemed a shame to miss out on it.

Inside the tent, it was blessedly warm, as opposed to the icy touch of the winter air outside. It was also strangely extravagant, with comfortable looking silk rugs and pillows strewn about. In the center, a fire burned happily, seemingly fueled by nothing and producing no smoke. As the three females sat in a triangular shape with Artemis and Bianca next to each other, leaving Percy at the upper-most point, she noticed a beautiful, intricate silver bow carved to look like gazelle horns behind the Goddess. Animal pelts adorned the walls, like an exotic, macabre wallpaper, black bear, tiger, leopard, and several others that Percy was unable to identify. She watched as a real live deer, a beautiful deer with glistening fur and gleaming, silver horns rested its head contently in Artemis' lap.

The Goddess studied Percy and Bianca in turn, though she seemed more focused on Percy. It made her uncomfortable, for the Goddess' eyes made way for an old soul. Options, Artemis had been talking about options. Percy now wondered if maybe the reason she was being studied more intensely than Bianca was because the Goddess was less sure about Percy's decision in the face of these options.

Zoë entered the tent, and Percy resisted the urge to sit up straight. Zoë's beauty was classic, looking as though her features had been perfected over a long period of carefully selected breeding, until with her upturned nose, full lips and hauntingly dark eyes, she looked so much like royalty with that shining silver circlet atop her dark, glossy hair that Percy had to resist the urge to follow her every command.

Zoë sat down gracefully next to Percy. She made Percy feel as though, in comparison, she was an ugly, clumsy lump of a troll.

Obviously someone needed to tell Artemis that girls did not always need boys to feel insecure.

They had a brief discussion about Dr. Thorn, and how he had spontaneously turned into a manticore, and Percy began to feel uneasy when it became obvious that Artemis was disturbed by the news. If it was enough to unsettle an Olympian Goddess, then it had to be pretty bad, right?

Once Artemis had finished extracting the information, she looked at Percy and Bianca with far sharper a gaze than Percy had realized was possible.

"_And now there is one last decision to make_," she said, and Percy felt the weight of uneasiness settle on her chest.

"I would like to invite you two maidens to join the Hunt."

Percy blinked, surprised. "The… the Hunt?"

Next to her, Zoë nodded. "Yes, if you join the Hunt, you may stay with Lady Artemis for an eternity. We kill monsters, as you do, though we have more freedom than you have at Camp Half-Blood, and you do not have to worry about pesky boys bothering you." As Zoë said the last part, she wrinkled her nose, as though the very idea of boys disgusted her.

"Eternity?" Bianca asked, her interest piqued.

Artemis nodded. "Yes, my Hunters are afforded immortality, so that they may stay with me forever. Of course, they may still pass in battle, and I grieve when they do. They will also lose their immortality if they break their oath to foreswear romantic love forever, but often the lifespan of my maidens is much extended. Zoë has been with me since the times of Ancient Greece."

Percy looked at the girl next to her in surprise. Immortal. Forever young. It didn't sound terrible at all. It certainly explained Zoë's strange accent.

And yet, Percy knew immediately that it was not an option. Camp Half-Blood was like home to her, the safest place she knew for demigods. And an eternity without boys… while she did not mind the thought so much at the moment, she had a feeling that given some time, she'd change her mind. She remembered her mother's words, about how loving another person truly and deeply could shift your whole perspective of the world.

Percy didn't want to miss out on that.

"We can't," Percy said, looking Bianca in the eye. "_You have to come to Camp Half-Blood so Chiron can train you. It's the only way you can learn to survive_."

"_It is not the only way for a girl_," Zoë said.

Percy felt indignation well up in her. It wasn't the fault of boys that they were boys. And she did not think that it was fair to ask Bianca to make this decision when she had no idea what Camp Half-Blood was like. She didn't know what she'd be giving up.

"_Bianca, camp is cool! It's got a Pegasus stable and a sword-fighting arena and…_ please just at least give it a chance?"

Bianca wasn't looking all that swayed, though Zoë was now glaring at Percy, as though it were a crime that she was trying to stop Bianca from making a life-altering decision in the space of a few minutes.

Artemis sighed as she looked upon Percy, and turned her full attention to Bianca, as though to say 'well you're a hopeless case. Let's see what this one decides.'

"_Bianca, this is crazy. What about your brother? Nico can't be a Hunter_."

"_Certainly not_," Artemis said, as though the very idea offended her. "_He will go to camp. Unfortunately that is the best boys can do_."

Percy found herself extremely offended at the implication that Camp Half-Blood was anything less than the best place on Earth.

"_You can see him from time to time_," Artemis said to Bianca, who had begun to look uneasy. "_But you will be free of responsibility. He will have the camp counselors to take care of him. And you will have a new family. Us._"

"_A new family. Free of responsibility_," Bianca said, as though the answer to every single one of her dreams was being laid out at her feet.

"_Bianca, you can't do this. It's nuts_."

Bianca looked at Zoë. "_Is it worth it_?"

"_Yes_."

"_What do I have to do_?"

"_Say this: I pledge myself to the Goddess Artemis_."

"_I- I pledge myself to the Goddess Artemis_."

Percy watched as Bianca signed her life away in utter disbelief. She'd only known she was a demigod for, what, a half-hour? She'd never even been to Camp Half-Blood, and twenty-four hours ago, to Bianca, the idea of the Gods existing seemed ludicrous, and now she had agreed to a life of immortality with the Goddess of the Hunt?

"Dawn is coming," Artemis said. "Let us break camp. You must make a safe journey to Long Island," she said, looking at Percy. "_I shall summon a ride from my brother_."

Zoë looked highly displeased by this idea, but she nodded as she and Bianca the Hunter left the tent.

"_So_," Percy said, sulky upset lacing her tone, "_We're going to get a ride from your brother, huh_?"

Artemis' eyes flashed, the silver in them brighter than ever. "_Yes… You see, Bianca di Angelo is not the only one with an annoying brother. It's time for you to meet my irresponsible twin, Apollo_."

.:~{+}~:.

_It's time for you to meet my irresponsible twin, Apollo_.

Percy had no idea how important this event would be.

**Your destiny, child, lies in the morning in the East, and in the evening, in the West**

No idea at all.

.:~{+}~:.

Slowly, the sky began to lighten, changing from a deep, dark midnight blue into mysterious indigo, then a royal purple, and slowly into pinks, oranges and yellows.

Artemis muttered "_About time. He's so-o-o lazy during the winter_."

"_You're, um, waiting for sunrise_?" Percy asked.

"_For my brother. Yes_."

Logically, Percy realized that if all of the other Gods were real, then of course Apollo, the Sun God, was going to be pulling his chariot across the sky all the live-long day, and yes, there was an Apollo cabin at camp, so of course he existed, cause, you know, his kids were there and everything. But those science lessons were stuck in Percy's mind, and all she could see the sun as was a big fiery star thousands of miles away.

Of course, that was before he got there in a sudden burst of warm light, parking his red convertible Maserati Spyder. It was so awesome, it glowed. Then Percy's brain kicked in and said that it was glowing because the metal was hot. Because he was the freaking Sun God. A perfect circle of green grass surrounded the Maserati where the heat had melted the layer of frozen snowflakes.

"_Wow_," Thalia said as the driver, who Percy still had a hard time wrapping her mind around the fact was the God of the Sun, got out of the car. "_Apollo is hot_."

Percy almost wanted to come back with a smart-aleck remark, like, '_he's the Sun God_," but then she really looked at him.

She was surprised by how young he looked, about seventeen or eighteen, but that wasn't really what was holding her attention. He was smiling, big and playful, his teeth perfect and white, and the smile was so genuine that without even meaning to, Percy began to smile back. He was tall, with the perfect, chiseled looks of a marble statue, but his appearance was much warmer than such a description would suggest, with soft-looking golden-blond hair, streaked with sun-bleached highlights. She found herself wanting to touch it. His eyes sparkled, the exact color of the sky on a cloudless day, and his skin was sun-kissed, a golden tan that almost seemed to glow. He wore jeans and a sleeveless T-shirt, but such mundane attire could not possibly hide that he was something altogether other.

He, like his sister, was far too beautiful to be human. Unlike his sister though, his beauty lay in bright, golden tones of warmth that Percy wanted to wrap herself up in and snuggle into, rather than Artemis' cold, imposing beauty.

"Yeah…" she found herself breathing in response to Thalia's comment.

Apollo was hot.

She was suddenly very, very, very glad that she had not joined the Hunters.

Percy barely registered the minor squabble that Apollo and Artemis were having about whether or not she was, in fact, his little sister, she was still too busy trying to recover her brain from the stupor that he had put it in. There was something that was niggling in the back of her mind, but she couldn't quite figure out what it was.

"_I need a favor_," Artemis said to her brother, sounding very irritated. "_I have some hunting to do, alone. I need you to take my companions to Camp Half-Blood_."

"_Sure, sis_!" He raised his hands, palms outward, and Percy blinked, a little confused. "_I feel a haiku coming on_."

Um… what?

The Hunters groaned. Apparently they knew what was coming.

"_Green grass breaks through snow,_

_Artemis pleads for my help,_

_I am so cool_."

Percy bit her lip, trying to hold back the amused smile in the face of everyone else's exasperation.

"_That last line was only four syllables_." Artemis pointed out.

"_Was it_?" Apollo asked, beginning to pout, and Percy couldn't help the smile now, muffling her laugh into her hand.

"_Yes. What about, 'I am so big-headed'_?" She laughed out loud at that, and then laughed even harder when Apollo, not quite getting it, muttered that that was six syllables.

"_I've got it_!" He burst out after some mumbling to himself. "_I am so awesome. That's five syllables_!"

Artemis rolled her eyes, and then pointed to Percy, Thalia and Nico. "_These demigods will also need a ride. Some of Chiron's campers_."

"_No problem_!" Apollo agreed happily. Percy smiled, wondering if he was ever upset. He started to look them over, and Percy tried hard not to blush. "_Let's see… Thalia right? I've heard all about you_."

Thalia blushed to the roots of her dark spiky hair. "_Hi, Lord Apollo_."

"_Zeus' girl, yes? Makes you my half-sister_." Somehow Percy doubted that that was what Thalia had wanted him to say to her. "_Used to be a tree, didn't you_?" And she doubted even more that Thalia wanted to be reminded of that. "_Glad you're back_." Thalia seemed to brighten a little at that. "_I hate it when pretty girls get turned into trees. Man, I remember this one time_-"

"_Brother_," Artemis interrupted, "_you should get going_."

"_Oh, right_." Then he looked at Percy, and his eyes… they sparked with some foreign interest that made Percy's breath catch in her throat. That thing in the back of her mind, it was some sort of valuable knowledge, a dim, neglected memory that struggled harder to come to the forefront of her consciousness, but for the life of her, she just could not quite remember-

"_Percy Jackson_?" he asked, and she felt her stomach coil pleasantly in response to the fact that he knew her name.

"_Yeah. I mean… yes, sir_." she said, flustered.

He continued to study her, as though analyzing her, and she suddenly wondered what he saw. A skinny, insecure girl of fourteen? A strong demigod who could hold her own? Or maybe he just looked at her and saw the daughter of Poseidon, nothing more, nothing less. For some reason, she hoped that he considered what he saw to be worth his time. She hoped he thought she was worth his time. There was a strange feeling stirring in her, almost like… butterflies?

"_Well_!" He finally said, looking away from Percy and making her feel simultaneously disappointed and relieved. "_We'd better load up, huh? Ride only goes one way- West. And if you miss it, you miss it_."

_Ride only goes one way- West_.

It clicked in her mind, that vague memory finally made it's appearance as vividly as though a penny had dropped, or a light bulb had turned on in her brain. It was like she was twelve years old again, standing in front of the Oracle for the very first time.

_What is my destiny_? She'd asked.

**Your destiny, child, lies in the morning in the East, and in the evening, in the West** had been the response.

Her destiny was the sun, she'd realized in confusion, because how could her destiny possibly be the sun?

Except, looking at Apollo, the God of the Sun, she got the feeling that maybe she understood what the Oracle meant now.

She didn't know when, she didn't know how, and she didn't know in what way, but someday, Apollo was going to be important.

He was her destiny.

.:~{+}~:.

**AN 2:** So there are more Apollo/Percy scenes in 'The Titan's Curse', but I didn't want this chapter to be disproportionately long in comparison to Chapter 1, which is kind of the model for how long chapters are going to be, so 'The Titan's Curse' will be split across two chapters.

**I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and remember to review!**


	3. Those Green Eyes

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Heroes of Olympus. There is some dialogue in this chapter taken from 'The Titan's Curse', but this text has been _italicized_, and I do not claim to own any of this text. It all belongs to the beautiful mind of Rick Riordan. Additionally, I don't own the song that inspired the story title, 'Kidz', by Take That, or the song that inspired the chapter title, 'Sparks Fly' by Taylor Swift. Yes, my taste in music is in fact quite eclectic.

**Story Title:** Uphill and Against the Wind

**Summary: **A series of encounters over the years leave Percy Jackson desperately in love with Apollo, the Sun God, but when Hera switches her with Jason Grace, Percy is left in New Rome with only the vague memory of a boy that almost seems to glow gold. Fem!Percy

**Rated: M**, for language, and later in the story, lemons

**AN: **Okay, so in chapter 2 I said that Percy was 13, but she's supposed to be 14, so I've changed that. Also, a guest reviewer asked if Percy and Apollo are going to be 'dating' in this story. I very much doubt that 'dating' is the right word for it, but you'll definitely see them together in a romantic capacity, without a single doubt.

**You guys! You're all so awesome! Thank you so much for giving this story the time of day!**

.:~{+}~:.

**III: Those Green Eyes**

.:~{+}~:.

_Get me with those green eyes, baby,_

_As the lights go down,_

_Give me something that'll haunt me when you're not around,_

_Cause I see sparks fly whenever you smile_

-Sparks Fly, by Taylor Swift

.:~{+}~:.

She would've expected there to be a deep-rooted shock at the fact that Clotho seemed to have seen fit to bind her to a God other than her father. She would've expected to be distracted in her quest by this discovery that her life thread was inexplicably tied to the Sun God. She would've expected to feel the need to rebel against the seemingly foregone conclusion that Apollo would be a main fixture in her life.

But she didn't feel any of that. There was no shock, only a sense of discovery, as though uncovering something that had always been there from the very beginning. She was not distracted in her quest, but rather she felt motivated. She had to survive this, and find out how and why he was her destiny. There was no need to rebel, but instead a sense of relief, as though her soul now understood the path it was intended to walk, despite the fact that she'd never felt lost before this realization.

It felt like this was the way that things were supposed to be.

.:~{+}~:.

It was cold. That kind of cold that seems to slice through all the layers you bundle yourself in and cuts right down to the quivering bone. Percy pulled her new lion's fur coat closer. The rail yard looked discouragingly abandoned, with rows upon rows upon rows of freight cars piled high with what looked like years' worth of snow.

Percy saw him before the others did. A homeless man warming himself at a trashcan fire. She frowned slightly at the odd urge she felt to go to him. Like an invisible string attempting to tug her closer.

He smiled a toothless grin when the others noticed him. "_Y'all need to get warmed up? Come on over_!"

The others seemed hesitant, but Percy found herself walking over, packed snow crunching beneath her feet. They followed quickly, lured by the warmth of the dancing flames. Only the fire almost seemed too hot to be a normal fire. It was like it radiated the heat of the sun. She brushed it off. She'd obviously been thinking too much about the fact that Apollo was, apparently, her destiny.

"_Maybe we should contact camp,_" Bianca said.

"_No. They cannot help us anymore. We must finish this quest ourselves_." Zoë responded.

Somewhere far from here, Annabeth was in danger. The Goddess of the Moon was in chains and from the looks of it, there were no trains. They were stuck here in this freezing cold rail yard, reduced to sharing a homeless person's fire.

"_You know_," the homeless person said, just as Percy's thoughts became dark, "_you're never completely without friends. You kids need a train going West_?"

There was something about that statement, something that struck Percy, made her tilt her head and think, like there was something she should be remembering, but at the moment could not.

"_Yes, sir. You know of any_?" she asked, unable to stop the lilt of hope in her voice.

He pointed, and suddenly Percy noticed a gleaming freight train, free of snow and looking brand-spanking new. It was an automobile carrier train, with a triple deck. The writing on the side read SUN WEST LINE, and to Percy, it looked just like salvation.

Thalia had started to thank him, but he was gone, and as the cold seeped back into Percy's spine, she saw he'd taken that wonderfully too-hot fire with him.

An hour later, as they rumbled West, she remembered Apollo's voice so vividly it was as if he was sat right next to her.

_Ride only goes one way- West_

What was it, that that homeless guy had said?

_You kids need a train going West_?

Percy thought of that strange, invisible tug she'd felt, the need to go to him. She thought of that fire, that searing, far-too-hot fire and the way it had felt so comforting. She thought of the way he'd pointed, and suddenly their train was just there. SUN WEST LINE.

She smiled.

.:~{+}~:.

He materialized into the passenger seat of a Lamborghini. Percy Jackson was curled up in the driver's seat, her jean-clad knees pressed tightly against the steering wheel and her head resting against the window, her breath making white clouds against the glass. Apollo was vaguely aware of the little satyr- Grover- asleep in the backseat, but his attention was on the daughter of Poseidon.

He cheated a little, and used his Godly powers to catch a brief glimpse of what she was thinking. She was afraid to fall asleep, afraid of dreaming of Annabeth, Athena's child. He attempted to stop his lip curling unpleasantly.

He didn't particularly like Athena any more than he liked Hera.

"_Oh, don't be afraid of dreams_," he said.

She turned her head to look at him then. Her green eyes were as vivid as ever, and piercing. Deep sea-green, a darkness to the color, and yet there was something behind them that made them paradoxically bright. He found himself noticing the way her top and bottom eyelashes caught and tangled briefly each time she blinked because they were so very long. She had a splash of freckles across her nose, likely from sun exposure, and her hair was very dark. A deep black, like spilled ink that twisted and waved wildly down her back, like the rolling of a tempestuous sea, reminding him of some long-forgotten mermaid princess.

Observing her, he remembered the tell-tale tug from earlier, the one that told him that Clotho had seen fit to attach this demigod's life thread to him. Uneasiness bubbled in him. He'd felt that tug before, though never so strongly. The only times that the life string of a mortal had ever tugged against him, they had always signified a future lover.

And his loves were always ill-fated.

How could the Fates tie him to Poseidon's child, of all the demigods? He couldn't even imagine the ramifications of fucking this up. Percy couldn't be like Daphne, who'd been so desperate to escape him, she'd called on Gaia to turn her into a laurel tree. Or like Cassandra, who he'd cursed after she'd promised to be his lover should he give her the gift of prophecy, only to go back on her promise. Or worse, Coronis, who'd been pregnant with his child even as she betrayed him with another man, an act for which he'd killed her in a regrettable fit of rage (though to his credit, he'd saved his son). Poseidon would not stand for his daughter to fall to the tragic fate of loves such as Hyacinthus, who'd been killed in jealousy by Zephyrus, the Western Wind, who'd wanted the boy all to himself.

Immortal though he was, Apollo was sure Poseidon would manage to find a way to make him deeply regret it should anything remotely similar happen to Percy.

"_If it weren't for dreams_," he continued, "_I wouldn't know half the things I know about the future. They're better than Olympus tabloids_." Though they had apparently failed to inform him of their connection.

He held up his hands. It was his warning gesture for 'I'm about to come out with a haiku'. He loved seeing everyone around him groan with exasperation whenever he made that gesture. Truthfully, he wouldn't have been so persistent with the poems and the limericks, had they not annoyed those around him so much.

If Artemis knew, she'd call him a child.

"_Dreams like a podcast,_

_Downloading truth in my ears,_

_They tell me cool stuff_"

Percy didn't look annoyed though, merely amused.

"_Apollo_?" It was a question, but she said it like a statement, as though she'd already known it was him.

He put a finger to his lips mischievously. "_I'm incognito. Call me Fred_."

A smile curved across pretty red lips, an eyebrow rose and those green eyes sparkled, sharing in his mischief. Something about her expression got him in the gut, and he felt like he was already bringing her to the ruin that his past loves had faced, because he could see quite easily, how he could fall for her in a few years' time, once she was older.

"_A God named Fred_?" There was a lilt of teasing in her voice, that was almost mockery, though it was not as malicious.

"_Eh, well… Zeus insists on certain rules. Hands off, when there's a human quest. Even when something really major is wrong_." Which was so damn stupid that Apollo didn't even know how to begin to express his frustration with the rule. "_But nobody messes with my baby sister. _Nobody."

The look on her face was more intent now, and she shifted in her seat to fully face him.

"_Can you help us then_?"

"_Shh. I already have. Haven't you been looking outside_?" He felt a little put out, that she apparently had not noticed the help he'd already given to her.

She soon dispelled that notion, however. "_The train. How fast are we moving_?"

He chuckled at the eagerness of her expression. A shaft of sunlight flew across her face briefly, and for a fraction of a second, the anticipation in her eyes was set alight, a bright, clear emerald.

"_Fast enough. Unfortunately, we're running out of time. It's almost sunset. But I imagine we'll get you across a good chunk of America, at least_."

"_But where is Artemis_?"

He scowled darkly at the fact that he didn't know the answer to that question. He said as much to Percy, who blinked quickly, and, barely fazed, moved onto another question.

"_And Annabeth_?"

"_Oh, you mean that girl you lost? Hmm. I don't know_."

He found himself surprised by the flash of irritation that swept across her gaze. He almost wanted to call her out for insolence in the presence of a God, but felt that that would be counterintuitive. It was, after all, her bold rebellion that had first attracted his attention.

She asked about the monster, and Apollo began to feel useless, as he did not know the answer to that question either, but then he triumphantly remembered some information that could be of use to her.

"_If you haven't yet found the monster when you reach San Francisco, seek out Nereus, the Old Man of the Sea. He has a long memory and a sharp eye. He has the gift of knowledge sometimes kept obscure from my Oracle_."

She looked confused, her dark eyebrows furrowing together. "_But it's _your_ Oracle. Can't you tell us what the prophecy means_?"

"_You might as well ask an artist to explain his art, or ask a poet to explain his poem. It defeats the purpose. The meaning is only clear through the search_."

There was a moment of silence in which she eyed him very shrewdly, her gaze suddenly knife-sharp. She stared at him through narrowed green slits, her head tilting in thought.

"_In other words, you don't know_."

He made a quick attempt to deflect focus off of that statement. It felt like a weakness, somehow, that he did not have nearly as much control over the prophecies the Oracle spoke as others thought he did.

"_I have to run. I doubt I can risk helping you again, Percy, but remember what I said! Get some sleep! And when you return, I expect a good haiku about your journey_!"

That spark of rebellion was back in those green eyes, and with a snap of Apollo's fingers, she slumped against the seat, fast asleep.

With another click of his fingers, he was gone.

.:~{+}~:.

Percy tried to focus on only Blackjack's wings moving beneath her, instead of focusing on thoughts of how she must be insane, or suicidal, or both. No child of Poseidon should ever spend this much time in the sky, much less with so much rumbling, roiling thunder and quick licks of deadly, beautiful lightning.

Then they came to Olympus, and Percy relaxed even as the incredible scent of jasmine and roses and everything that was good in the world. Winter was a non-issue on Olympus, torch and firelight glowing brightly through early-morning darkness painting the mountainside twenty different colors, from blood red to indigo. Music drifted to her ears, the sounds of Ancient Greece, lyres and reed pipes singing to the open air.

And at the very top of the mountain was the white hall of the Gods, glowing in all its holiness.

The pegasi let her, Annabeth and Thalia down in front of the silver gates, and Percy was startled when they opened of their own accord. Anxiety built up inside her. She'd never seen all of the Gods at once, and she knew a lot of them didn't like her. Talk about being at risk of getting vaporized…

Side by side, the three girls began the trek to the throne room.

The thrones were enormous, twelve of them making a U-shape around a central hearth, their placement reflecting the layout of Camp Half-Blood. Constellations sparkled brilliantly above them, and Percy was briefly distracted by Zoë making her way across the heavens, bow in hand. Melancholy rose in her, but she ignored it, for now.

The Gods and Goddesses were, of course, nothing short of intimidating. For one, they had declined to shrink down to human size, so they were all about fifteen feet tall. It didn't help that they all turned as one to observe the trio of demigods.

"_Welcome, heroes_," Artemis said, but Percy's attention was quickly diverted from the Goddess she'd saved.

With a loud "_Mooo_!" Percy was focused on Bessie and Grover.

Percy felt herself smile fondly at Bessie, who was swimming happily away in a little water-bubble-sphere-thing that Percy didn't know what to call. Grover knelt at Zeus' throne, but any maturity or professionalism that could've been found in the scene was swiftly shattered when Grover called out excitedly upon their appearance.

"_You made it_!"

As Grover joined them, Percy found herself scanning the faces of the Gods. She felt a modicum of reassurance upon seeing her father's familiar, weathered, suntanned face, a pair of deep, sea-green eyes that she knew very well staring back at her. He gave her the faintest of smiles, and nodded as though to say that everything was going to be okay.

Grover hugged the girls, and as he spun her slightly to the side, she saw her destiny over his shoulder.

Her was staring straight back at her, with blue, blue eyes, so clear and honest-looking that anyone could believe he was the God of Truth, even though she got the feeling that it was more along the lines of him being able to detect lies, rather than preventing him from spewing them. His blond hair was just like sunshine and, again, she felt the urge to touch it, just once, just to see if it was as smooth and soft and silky as it looked.

That's when she realized Grover was talking to her.

"_They can't do it_!"

She refocused on her satyr friend, confusion crossing her face.

"_Do what_?"

Artemis slid from her throne and walked towards them, shrinking until she looked like that twelve-year-old girl again, silver shimmering as though she had moonlight itself draped around her.

"_The Council has been informed of you deeds. They know that Mount Othrys is rising in the West. They know of Atlas' attempt for freedom, and the gathering armies of Kronos. We have voted to act_."

She went on to outline the actions that the Olympians planned to take, explaining that she and Apollo would hunt the most powerful monsters, shooting them down with bow and arrow before they could join the enemy cause, while Percy's father would do everything possible to sink the _Princess Andromeda_.

She turned to face the other immortals.

"_These half-bloods have done Olympus a great service. Would any here deny that_?"

Percy carefully analyzed the expressions of the Gods, trying to figure out where they stood, which ones liked her, which ones she needed to watch her back around. She blinked in surprise when Hermes winked at her. Her father hadn't noticed, but Apollo scowled at Hermes, despite the fact that he seemed distracted with a set of earphones in. Then he turned to look at her, and when he gave her a covert thumbs up, she couldn't help returning the gesture with a smile.

"_I gotta say_," he started, breaking the silence. "_these kids did okay_." He cleared his throat and did his hands up haiku gesture.

"_Heroes win laurels_-"

Percy found herself disappointed when he was interrupted by Hermes, who hastily cleared his throat, anxious to avoid Apollo's poetry.

Percy didn't know whether to be frightened, astonished or insulted when the Gods proceeded to have a talk, right there in front of them, about whether or not they should kill her, Thalia and Bessie. After a moment she settled on indignant. When she'd look back on it in the years to come, she was still a bit confused as to how Thalia managed to become a Hunter of Artemis in the middle of that particular conversation, but it happened regardless.

The argument finally ended when her father said in her defense, "_I will build an aquarium for the creature here. Hephaestus can help me. The creature will be safe. We shall protect it with our powers. The girl will not betray us. I vouch for this on my honor_."

She felt her faith and trust in her father skyrocket at the fact that he was willing to defend her, though she found herself wilting a little at being referred to as '_the girl_.'

Zeus appeared to contemplate this course of action for a moment, before looking at the other Olympians and asking, "_All in favor_?"

Percy felt herself practically quivering in relief when all but three hands went up. She watched as her father's was the first hand in the air, followed closely by Apollo.

"_We have a majority_," Zeus decreed, looking relieved that that business was over with and nobody had vaporized his daughter. "I suppose we should now honor these heroes. Let the celebration begin!"

.:~{+}~:.

A week later, Apollo found himself in the throne room. He would be the first to admit that it was childish, but he found himself endlessly amused by the antics of the Ophiotaurus. He shook his head and snorted, still unable to believe that Percy had named it Bessie, of all things.

The doors opened with a loud bang, but Apollo didn't look away from the sea creature, happily mooing in his aqua home. Sometimes, Apollo wished his life were so easy and free of responsibility.

He heard footsteps coming towards him, but it was only when Hermes smacked him upside the head with something that Apollo deigned to turn, a loud "HEY!" of protest escaping him.

Hermes laughed, and held out the thing he'd smacked Apollo with. A letter.

"Mind telling me why you're getting mail from Percy Jackson?" Hermes asked.

Apollo looked at the letter in surprise. Sure enough it was from Percy Jackson. Turning to Hermes with a bewildered expression on his face, he shrugged. "I don't know."

Hermes continued to eye him, as though trying to figure out whether or not Apollo was telling the truth. Of course, the only God that could ever really tell whether or not they were being lied to was Apollo himself, and even then he didn't always know for sure, but it didn't stop the others from trying.

Then Hermes shrugged and spun on his heel, apparently deciding he had better things to do. He left, throwing a careless 'whatever' over his shoulder. Apollo was left alone in the throne room.

Alone with the letter.

He quickly ripped into it, greedily sucking up the words on the page like a dry, brittle, dehydrated sponge.

**Hey,**

**Hope you like the poem:**

**Cold, hungry and lost,**

**Apollo leading me West,**

**Here is your haiku**

**Thanks for the ride West, 'Fred'.**

**-Percy Jackson**

He read it several times, his mouth falling open in astonishment. He'd mostly been joking when he'd said he'd wanted her to write him a haiku about the quest. He couldn't believe she'd actually done it!

The fact that she had… it meant that she'd bothered to take him seriously. It had been awhile since anyone had taken him seriously.

It made him feel…

It made him feel.

.:~{+}~:.

**AN 2:** Phew! 'The Titan's Curse' was a whopper for Apollo/Percy transaction! Oh, there's a part in here where I mention that Apollo does not like Athena. I totally want to credit **hopefulmemoir **and their awesome story, **Percy's Sleep** (which I definitely recommend reading. It's a one-shot, but well worth the time). Anyway, the author derived Apollo's hate for Athena based on the fact that Troy was an sacred city to Apollo and Athena was one of the Goddesses against Troy. Anyway, I reiterate, that gem of an idea was not mine! And for anyone who was wondering, there are three Fates- Clotho is the Fate of Life.


	4. Crashing Into the Sea

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Heroes of Olympus. There is some dialogue in this chapter taken from 'The Last Olympian', but this text has been _italicized_, and I do not claim to own any of this text. It all belongs to the beautiful mind of Rick Riordan. Additionally, I don't own the song that inspired the story title, 'Kidz', by Take That, or the song that inspired the chapter title, 'Ships in the Night' by Mat Kearney. Yes, my taste in music is in fact quite eclectic. Also, I don't own the Wicked Witch of the West. She belongs to... Whoever the hell owns 'The Wizard of Oz'.

**Story Title:** Uphill and Against the Wind

**Summary: **A series of encounters over the years leave Percy Jackson desperately in love with Apollo, the Sun God, but when Hera switches her with Jason Grace, Percy is left in New Rome with only the vague memory of a boy that almost seems to glow gold. Fem!Percy

**Rated: M**, for language, and later in the story, lemons

**AN: **First of all, I would like to apologize for how ridiculously long it's been since my last update. My paternal grandfather passed away after a three-year fight with cancer, and my maternal grandfather has just found out that he has an aortic aneurysm and may need a very risky surgery. So I haven't really felt like writing.

**Holy freaking God! The number of favs and follows- I can't even- I mean it's so flattering, I just- holy fucking shit. Thank you so much guys!**

.:~{+}~:.

**Crashing Into the Sea**

.:~{+}~:.

_Like ships in the night,_

_You keep passing me by,_

_We're just wasting time_

_Trying to prove who's right,_

_And if it all goes crashing into the sea,_

_If it's just you and me,_

_Trying to find the light,_

_Like ships in the night_

-Ships in the Night, by Mat Kearney

.:~{+}~:.

The next year and a half was a strange time for Apollo, feeling simultaneously as though he were waiting impatiently for something, and yet also wished for it to never come.

Apollo hadn't felt that tug since the times of Ancient Greece. He'd thought that the Fates must have given up on him, because he'd managed to completely fuck over every opportunity for happiness that he'd been given thus far.

And yet, wasn't that what this was? An opportunity for happiness?

For a moment, he tried to imagine it. Percy Jackson, for the rest of forever, because Gods knew that with the daughter of Poseidon, the intention had to be forever. But it was difficult. He'd been a free spirit for so long, the idea of one lover for eternity was… foreign. His cabin at Camp Half-Blood would become just about as redundant as Hera's (not that he'd ever call her cabin redundant to her face). His golden cabin was always filled with laughter and song. He tried to imagine it empty and quiet.

It was difficult.

And yet…

And yet it was also easy. He remembered the curve of her smile and the look of mischief on her face as they sat in that Lamborghini. He thought about her eyes. A wave of deep longing hit him at the thought of those eyes. Sea-green, on the knife's edge between dark and bright, lined by dark lashes. Apollo was fairly certain that he was already in love with those eyes.

He could spend eternity with those eyes.

The golden cabin in his mind suddenly became very quiet, and now he could see it. He could see a forever with Percy Jackson. Forever with her and her eyes and her smile. He could be as silly and childish as he wanted, and she'd respond with mischief and light-heartedness. He could be serious, and she'd actually take him seriously. The future suddenly stretched out before him, in a way that it never had before, filled with love and laughter and happiness.

After coming to terms with the fact that they were tied, he found himself watching her more often. He became fascinated not only with the complexity of her life as a demigod, but also with the contrasting simplicity her life took on when she was at home with her mother. He especially watched her during her time in the labyrinth. He'd felt the most awful kind of anxiety while she was in there, because he could see the dangers she was heading towards before even she saw them, and he knew he could not help her. It was forbidden.

It was one such day, as he debated whether or not he could get away with helping her navigate the labyrinth that Aphrodite had come to him.

She had approached him, tall and curvaceous, hips swinging sensually and a razor-sharp smile smeared across her lips that had him on edge instantly. She was wearing a dress, he noticed absentmindedly, a color not-quite-white, cream maybe, he wasn't sure about specific shades, but it was what he'd heard her refer to as a mermaid style dress before, and it reminded him of Percy and her mermaid princess hair. She was blonde when she first came to him, but he was dismayed to see it slowly twisting and curling and darkening, until it was deepest black against skin that had suddenly tanned, and when he looked into her eyes, he saw dark-bright green staring back at him.

He blinked, and Aphrodite's features morphed, her hair straightening, her skin lightening and her eyes turning the Love Goddess' preferred blue. There was still a slight resemblance to Percy, but not nearly so striking as it was a moment ago.

The knowing smirk on Aphrodite's face made him feel in equal parts enraged and defeated.

"So it would seem that Persephone Jackson has become your standard of perfect beauty," Aphrodite said, the smirk stretching ever wider. "Odd, as I have sent far more classically beautiful women your way over the years. Though I suppose that nothing trumps true love." When she said the words 'true love', a dreamy expression took hold of her perfect, perfect face, even as Apollo grit his teeth.

"I haven't spent enough time with her to love her," he ground out. Even as he said it, he thought of how he'd lived long enough to know that you didn't have to have known someone for all that long to be in love with them. Still, he didn't like the way that Aphrodite was intruding on his personal business.

Aphrodite was aware of this as well, for she ignored his statement.

"Not even the Fates trump true love… but then, you were lucky enough to get two-in-one, weren't you?"

The smirk was absolutely wicked by this point, and Apollo tensed.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, even though they both knew what she was talking about. What he should have been asking was 'how do you know?'

"I'm talking about the fact that the Fates have tied Percy Jackson's life thread to you!"

"How do you know about that?" he asked, voice sharper than he'd intended. Inwardly, he cursed himself. Now Aphrodite would know that she'd hit a sensitive subject. Sensitive subjects could be used against him. Already, his mind drifted to poor, sweet Hyacinthus, the handsome Prince of Sparta who'd been killed by spite and jealousy.

The wickedness in her expression dropped at his tone, and it was only then that he realized her tone had been more playful than threatening. Now a look of seriousness, with a touch of compassion and friendliness graced her face.

"Apollo, I'm the Goddess of Love. I will admit to not always being the one to play matchmaker, sometimes two people fall in love all by themselves, but I can still sense that attraction, those feelings. I felt the tug of her life thread right along with you last winter."

Apollo felt a flash of insight. When such things occurred, he was never quite sure if it was due to intelligence on his part, or his gift of prophecy. He had long since stopped wondering. "You felt it because it signified a future lover of mine. Potential for romance."

"Yes," she said, nodding, as though pleased with his deduction skills.

"You're not here to manipulate me, or use her against me," he figured out loud. "You're just drawn by the romance."

Her face lit up, and he knew he was right. "It'll be so dramatic! You're faithful in love, Apollo, and Percy is unwaveringly loyal. You'd be an amazing couple- I can't believe I didn't think of it before the Fates! But then there are all of these external factors against you- you're a God, and she's a demigod- ooh, and she's Poseidon's demigod! Just wait until he finds out! You'll be like Romeo and Juliet, or Helen and Troy!"

He hoped not. Romeo and Juliet died, and Helen and Troy started a war… And then they died.

He decided to cut the core of his worries.

"Will you tell anyone?"

She stopped gushing, and suddenly became very serious. Her eyes darkened to a glossy black, and for a moment she reminded him of the Hesperides.

"No, no I won't tell. Interfering would ruin the story, wouldn't it? Well, unless it gets boring. But for now, I'm entertained."

He grit his teeth and wondered suddenly if this was how demigods felt- that the Gods just used them for their own amusement. He felt a rush of guilt that it was partially true. But things could get so, so boring.

"It wouldn't be entertaining if Percy died," he countered. "The story would end if she died."

Aphrodite frowned. "Who said anything about her dying?"

"If you tell, she could end up like Hyacinthus. Killed out of spite. I have many enemies, you realize."

Her eyes flashed and her lips pursed, displeased by his warning tone.

"Only because you showed such cruelty in your youth," she countered. He flinched at that, because it was the truth. He'd made his bed. Now he had to lie in it.

She continued to eye him. "I will be your ally," she said after a moment.

He blinked, showing more surprise on his face than he would have liked.

"What?"

"I will be your ally," she repeated. "When Poseidon finds out, it's likely that he won't be happy. You don't have the best track record with lovers. Zeus will probably also not be pleased. You know how he gets about Gods interfering in the lives of demigods. I will defend you, verbally, and if I have to, I will also be by your side in a physical fight."

He was still surprised, confused by her motivation.

"This… is all because you enjoy romance?"

She smiled, a genuine smile this time, a playful light in her eyes, which had swirled back into Percy's mesmerizing green.

"Well, I do love, love, after all."

.:~{+}~:.

The water below her churned as she stared deeply into it. Her reflection looked… like it was not quite part of her, as though an alien being were staring back up at her through the black water. Surely her face had never looked so smooth, so devoid of emotion? Surely her eyes had never been so empty? She shivered and looked away, at all of the floating, broken dreams on the water, hopes and wishes that were lost by souls on the passage between life and death.

The River Styx.

Did she really have to swim in that?

One look at Nico's face told her she did. But Nico wasn't looking at her. He was looking at something behind her.

She turned quickly, and found herself face-to-face with a fierce-looking Greek warrior. A glance down revealed that he had an arrow sticking from his heel.

Achilles.

"_Beware_," he said, "_Turn back! It will make you powerful, but it will also make you weak_."

She wanted to turn back. She wanted to. She could tell from the pure pain in his voice, the desperation, that he was trying to save her from the terrible fate of falling to her own arrogance. And she would like to think that she would never become complacent, that she would guard her mortal spot like her life depended on it, because her life would depend on it. But it would be so easy, she knew, when one was almost, almost all-powerful, to forget about that one little weak spot…

To assume she wouldn't fall to arrogance was arrogant in and of itself.

"_I have to. Otherwise I don't stand a chance_," she told him regrettably.

"_Hero, if you must do this, concentrate on your mortal point. Imagine one spot of your body that will remain vulnerable. This is the point where your soul will anchor your body to the world. It will be your greatest weakness, but also your only hope. No man may be completely invulnerable. Lose sight of what makes you mortal, and the River Styx will burn you to ashes. You will cease to exist._"

"_No man may be completely invulnerable_," Percy repeated, the words rolling mockingly off her tongue. "May women be invulnerable?" she asked, and knew she was being a smart-aleck. "Because I am no man."

She heard Nico snort behind her, but Achilles did not appear to be as amused. He scowled. "Prepare yourself, foolish girl. Live or die, you have sealed your own fate."

And with that ominous statement, he disappeared.

"Well, thanks for the advice," she muttered sarcastically to the empty air.

"_Percy_," Nico said from behind her, causing her to turn. "_Maybe he's right_."

She felt annoyance swell up inside. He had spent the last year convincing her to go through with this stupid, stupid idea, and now she was here, ready to jump into the River Styx and he was backing out on her?

"_Just wait on the shore_," she snapped. "_If anything happens to me… Well, maybe Hades will get his wish, and you'll be the child of the prophecy after all_."

Before she could change her mind, she imagined a string pulling taut, just behind her navel, until the other end touched the small of her back directly opposite. That was it. Her mortal spot. Defended by armour, and rarely targeted. The string lengthened in her mind's eye, anchoring her soul to Earth.

And with that, she jumped into the River Styx.

It was the worst pain imaginable. In fact, it transcended her powers of imagination. She hadn't ever imagined that such pain was physically possible. If she'd been fully mortal, and had never known about the existence of the Gods, such pain would have made her lose all faith in the existence of any God. It was like being burned alive, having acid and salt poured into the weeping burns, and then being flayed alive. She lost all ability to function. She couldn't move. She couldn't think. And for the first time in her life, she could not breathe underwater.

Suddenly, she understood the panic of drowning.

The faces of those she loved flashed through her mind's eye, a kaleidoscope of her life, fracturing before her very eyes. The pain dissolved everything.

She began to forget who she was. The faces were melting, she was melting, melting away into the water, just like the Wicked Witch of the West, she thought absently, but that was gone after a few seconds as well, her soul was melting away-

"Oh, surely it's not as bad as all that?" a familiar voice rang. "All you have to do is remember your lifeline. Don't you think you're being a bit dramatic?" Apollo. That was Apollo's voice. Her destiny.

There was a tug on the thread that kept her tied to Earth. "Your life thread," his voice supplied. Yes… yes, it would be her life thread, wouldn't it? Why hadn't she realized before? The pain was gone. The current pulled at her, trying to carry her away, but it wasn't succeeding, not anymore. Not now that he'd reminded her of her life thread. It was keeping her attached to Earth-

Except that wasn't quite right. She had a hard time imagining the red thread of her life attaching itself to the Earth. Instead, it seemed as though it was attached to him. Yes, she could see him now, standing above the water, barefoot. He walks on water, just like Jesus, she thought vaguely, and for some reason the thought made her want to laugh hysterically. He was smiling that smile that always made her smile back, and his impossibly blue eyes seemed like they were laughing at her. And there was her life thread, attaching her life to him.

At that thought, the string pulled taut, pulling her tighter to him. Her destiny.

Of course they were connected. How had she not seen it before? The string was vivid scarlet, impossible to miss. How could she not have known?

How could she not have known that she was meant to be with him?

She'd known he was her destiny, but she'd spent the last year and a half pretending she didn't know how he'd fit in her life, despite the fact that her heart skipped a beat at the sight of his face and she'd get the most uncontrollable urges to touch him, and the fact that she felt this tug- her life thread pulling her closer, she now realized- whenever he was near.

She hadn't been ready to admit that she knew exactly how he'd fit into her life. She'd wasted so much time with her denial. But everything changed now, as she floated in the River Styx, deep in the Underworld, realizing that the Sun God, whether he knew it or not, was what kept her soul anchored to this life.

And as the illusion of him held out his hand to help her from the water, she knew.

She was ready now.

.:~{+}~:.

"_Rise, my child_," Poseidon's voice rang through a wrecked Olympus.

Percy obeyed the command, her legs feeling wobbly from a culmination of nervousness and exhaustion. She made it a point not to look over at Apollo's throne. She'd caught a glimpse of him earlier, and just that one glance had hit her harder than she'd thought it would. Since her epiphany in the River Styx, her feelings for him had become more intense than she'd thought possible, to the point that she had wondered if she had somehow loved him all this time and just hadn't realized. Looking at him now, she thought, would just make her legs even weaker.

"_A great hero must be rewarded_," Poseidon was booming, even as Percy made a concentrated effort to keep her eyes glued to him, and to not let them drift over to a golden throne… "Is there anyone here who would deny that my daughter is deserving?"

Silence.

"_The Council agrees_," Zeus cut in. "_Percy Jackson, you will have one gift from the Gods_."

"_Any gift_?" she asked, voice hesitant.

Zeus nodded. "I know what you wish, Persephone Jackson. The greatest gift the Gods can grant. It has been bestowed on very few, but if you wish it, you shall be made a Goddess. Immortal. Undying. You shall rule the seas with your father for all time."

Any and all thoughts came to a grinding halt for a moment. All she could do was stare.

"… a Goddess?"

Zeus rolled his eyes. "Dim-witted, apparently, but yes, a Goddess."

Immortality. She'd live forever, be forever young. Just like Apollo.

She lost control for a moment as her mind raced, and before she knew it, she was looking at him, and his golden hair, those bright summer blue eyes, his skin, sun-kissed until he seemed to glow gold. He was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen.

And he was all hers.

The possessiveness bubbled up from seemingly nowhere, and it caught her off guard. But it was true, wasn't it? True, it was her life thread that was attached to him, but it should also be noted that he was consequently just as tied to her as she was to him.

They could have eternity together.

And yet, she knew she could not, would not take this generous gift of immortality. To take it would be selfish, when she knew that there was something the world needed much more than another Goddess. This whole war could have been avoided had the Gods simply paid a little more attention to their children, made them feel loved and wanted. It was no coincidence that of the forty demigods that fought for Olympus over the last few days, every single one of them had been claimed.

And so, she did what she knew was right, even as the words tasted bitter in her mouth.

"_No_."

.:~{+}~:.

The Council had dispersed, and Apollo caught her arm just as she was leaving the Empire State Building.

"Why did you turn it down?" he demanded, his voice more angry than he would like, but he couldn't help the hurt and betrayal he felt. Her rejection of immortality felt a whole lot like a rejection of him, especially after the way that she'd gazed at him so longingly in what was left of the throne room.

He'd thought then that his feelings for her were returned, but it would appear not.

She was staring up at him now with that same longing though, and it confused him. He wanted to look into her mind and just see all of the answers, but he felt like that may be an invasion of her privacy, especially when his questions held so much consequence. He respected her too much to invade her privacy in that way.

"The world needed the gift that was given more than the gift that was offered," she said simply, but he noted the unhappiness in her voice.

He pursed his lips, understanding her intentions then. "So, you were being selfless."

"Extremely selfless," she confirmed, green eyes staring up at him like she could see into his soul.

He was just about to leave when she stopped him with words that took him completely off guard.

"Did you know that you're my destiny?" she asked.

He blinked several times in shock. Her life thread was tied to him, yes, but somehow he'd never thought of it in terms of destiny.

She seemed to notice the flabbergasted look on his face, because she smiled up at him, green eyes sparkling, and said,

"I knew you didn't have as much control over the Oracle as you like to pretend."

Somehow, the fact that it was Percy's voice saying the words made them not sound like so much of a weakness.

"What does my Oracle have to do with anything?" he asked.

"When I was twelve, on my very first quest… I didn't know how to get a prophecy from the Oracle. I just asked 'what is my destiny', and it told me that my destiny was the sun. I didn't really understand what it meant… until I met you."

He found himself slightly stunned. She'd known about their connection for far longer than he had. He wondered if she'd come to terms with it yet, the way that he had.

"That's how I knew that everything would somehow work out," she said, "Even if I turned down immortality, it wouldn't matter. Everything would still fall into place because… because it's destiny."

As he stared at her, completely dumbfounded and wondering how a mortal could surprise him so deeply, she smiled again, the smile he had mused on spending eternity with.

"I have to go find my mom and Paul, but I'll see you around, okay?"

And with that, she walked out into the mess of injured demigods, wrecked cars, cracked concrete and monster dust. But this time, Apollo didn't feel the need to chase after her, like he did in the throne room. Everything would fall into place.

It was destiny.


End file.
